Salimi wins 2012 world weightlifting title

Iran’s super heavyweight Behdad Salimi has been named the world’s best weightlifter of 2012 in an online poll conducted by the International Weightlifting Federation.

The Iranian star, who won the gold medal in the men’s +105-kilogram category of the weightlifting competition of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, topped the list as the world’s best weightlifter in 2012.

He was followed by 24-year-old Kazakh weightlifting champion Ilya Ilin, and Polish weightlifter Adrian Edward Zielinski gained the third place.

On August 7, 2012, Salimi lifted a total of 455 kilograms at ExCel Arena to snatch the gold medal for super weight category of the London Olympic Games.

The 23-year-old, who lifted 208 kilograms in snatch and 247 kilograms in clean and jerk, secured the gold medal with his first clean and jerk lift of 247 kilograms.

The strongman attempted a clean and jerk world record of 264 kilograms, trying to beat the 263 kilograms mark set by Iran’s Hossein Rezazadeh, the two-time Olympic and four-time world champion, at the Sydney Games in 2000.

However, Salimi failed in his second attempt and abandoned a third lift.

Iran’s weightlifting prodigy Salimi won the world title in his first attempt in 2010 by lifting a total of 453 kilograms and retained his title in 2011 by lifting 464 kilograms.

The lifter set a new world record of 214 kilograms in the snatch, breaking the previous record of 213 kilograms.